Deprecated: mysql_connect(): The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead in /home/theastro/public_html/include/vshare.php on line 7The AstronomersAstrophysics

Science & Reason on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/ScienceReason
The Hubble Space Telescope Is Back - Better Than Ever! Final Servicing Mission.
---
Please subscribe to Science & Reason:
• http://www.YouTube.com/Best0fScience
• http://www.YouTube.com/ScienceMagazine
• http://www.YouTube.com/ScienceTV
• http://www.YouTube.com/FFreeThinker
---
"Improved Hubble Shows Evidence of Dark Matter"
• http://www.youtube.com/user/tdarnell#play/uploads/2/3wluv08tDhU
• http://www.deepastronomy.com/
"When Hubble Opened its New Eyes"
• http://www.youtube.com/AndromedasWake
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bytNgT7l8k
"The Hubble Space Telescope - Rebirth of an Icon (Hubblecast 30)"
• http://www.youtube.com/ESOcast
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjy7YSIH-GI
---
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy.
The HST is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, and is one of NASA's Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923. The Hubble was funded in the 1970s, with a proposed launch in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the Challenger disaster. When finally launched in 1990, scientists found that the main mirror had been ground incorrectly, severely compromising the telescope's capabilities.
However, after a servicing mission in 1993, the telescope was restored to its intended quality. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely sharp images with almost no background light. Hubble's Ultra Deep Field image, for instance, is the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the universe's most distant objects. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.
The Hubble is the only telescope ever designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. There have been five servicing missions, the last occurring in May 2009. Servicing Mission 1 took place in December 1993 when Hubble's imaging flaw was corrected. Servicing missions 2, 3A, and 3B repaired various sub-systems and replaced many of the observing instruments with more modern and capable versions.
However, following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident, the fifth servicing mission was canceled on safety grounds. After spirited public discussion, NASA reconsidered this decision, and administrator Mike Griffin approved one final Hubble servicing mission. STS-125 was launched in May 2009, and installed two new instruments and made numerous repairs.
The latest servicing should allow the telescope to function until at least 2014, when its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is due to be launched. The JWST will be far superior to Hubble for many astronomical research programs, but will only observe in infrared, so it will complement (not replace) Hubble's ability to observe in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope
.

Our astronomers have detected a stellar-mass black hole in another galaxy, much further away than any other previously known. With a mass above fifteen times that of the sun, this is the second most massive black hole of this type ever discovered.
This animation shows how the stellar black hole NGC 300 X-1 might look. Note: there is no audio in this video.
Full story at:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/mediacentre/2010/1481.html
Department of Physics and Astronomy:
http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/physics/
Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/P. Crowther/L. Calçada.

This animation shows a thermonuclear flame burning its way through a white dwarf star. The flame produces hot ash, which buoyantly rises as the flame burns. The ash breaks out of but remains gravitationally bound to the surface of the star and collides at a point on the opposite side of the star from the breakout location. The blue shows the approximate surface of the star and the orange shows the interface between the star and the hot ash produced by the flame.
Credit: DOE NNSA ASC/Alliance Flash Center at the University of Chicago.

In the first of this two-part video Dr Helmut Jerjen tells 'Tales of stars and stellar systems' . The event is part of Mount Stromlo's Centenary Celebrations.
Astronomy has arguably had the single largest impact on the development of science, human society and culture over the past 10,000 years. On our journey through space and time we will explore the glorious life of our sun, learn how astrophysical knowledge acquired 100 years ago can help to solve the energy crisis on Earth today, and find out why we should rightfully call ourselves the children of the stars. The discovery of exoplanets is a regular topic in the international news.
Dr Jerjen explains how astronomers measure the faint signal from these distant island worlds, show where our place in the Milky Way is, and disclose how the Universe grew a million times bigger on the night of October 6, 1923.
Dr Jerjen is a member of academic staff at the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at ANU. As a genuine multi-wavelength astrophysicist he has published over 100 articles in international journals covering topics in the areas of near-field cosmology, stellar populations, galaxy evolution and dark matter. He is the head of the Stromlo Milky Way Satellite Survey team that will make use of the new ANU SkyMapper Telescope to study dark-matter dominated dwarf galaxies in the halo of our Milky Way. Dr Jerjen is passionate about educating future generations of astrophysicists.

Comets in the electric universe/plasma cosmology model, and the implications this has for space and astronomy, and even history.
Also see this website for more information on electrical activity associated with comets and some other evidence supporting the electric model; http://www.plasma-universe.com/index....

Comets in the electric universe/plasma cosmology model, and the implications this has for space and astronomy, and even history.
Also see this website for more information on electrical activity associated with comets and some other evidence supporting the electric model; http://www.plasma-universe.com/index....

Comets in the electric universe/plasma cosmology model, and the implications this has for space and astronomy, and even history.
Also see this website for more information on electrical activity associated with comets and some other evidence supporting the electric model; http://www.plasma-universe.com/index....

Comets in the electric universe/plasma cosmology model, and the implications this has for space and astronomy, and even history. Also see this website for more information on electrical activity associated with comets and some other evidence supporting the electric model; www.plasma-universe.com

Pulsars and Comets in the electric universe/plasma cosmology model.
See this publication for some more info on this interpretation of pulsars, published and peer reviewed in the journal of astrophysics and space science; http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995Ap&SS.227..229H
A pulsar (pulsating star) is an astronomical object which produces a regular pulse of radio waves (electromagnetic radiation) which is conventionally thought to be due to a rotating neutron star.
The Plasma Universe explains pulsars as a magnetospheric transmission line system.
Also see this website for more information on electrical activity associated with comets and some other evidence supporting the electric model (with peer reviewed references); http://www.plasma-universe.com/index.php/Comet

The Library Of Alexandria - Best Of Carl Sagan's Cosmos (Part 7).
---
Subscribe to Science & Reason:
• http://www.youtube.com/Best0fScience
• http://www.youtube.com/SagansCosmos
• http://www.youtube.com/FFreeThinker
---
BEST OF CARL SAGAN'S "COSMOS":
1) 10 Years After: Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Reflect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTNfwfH0Jc
2) Lost Between Immensity And Eternity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIVsDg6U0LU
3) The Realm Of The Galaxies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1axoV6HhWfI
4) Our Galaxy, The Milky Way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOazBTHzRYA
5) Our Solar System:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqjob-UVeo
6) Eratosthenes And The Round Earth Model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en5UKtcNujI
7) The Library Of Alexandria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVQs4B2jAW0
8) A Short History Of The Universe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n2r0qOxJ6k
9) Artificial And Natural Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3uToVWZkWM
10) The Cosmic Year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFqbm_94nTM
11) Tree Of Life - 4 Billion Years Of Evolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0UECN4ndA
12) The Miracle Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOyojWeOYNA
13) DNA - The Common Basis Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmuvjSykf8
14) Abiogenesis The Origin Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yet1xkAv_HY
15) Astronomy vs Astrology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImaQS9NJ0nI
16) Pictures In The Sky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCAwc4bge4
17) Ancient Astronomy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-5dwJwau1Y
18) Triumph Of Modern Science Over Medieval Superstition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lfmRqT-B_c
19) The Mysterious Tonguska Event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irVof7adq4s
---
Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage", which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.
A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel "Contact", the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki's film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.
During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.
http://www.carlsagan.com
.

Ancient Astronomy - Best Of Carl Sagan's Cosmos (Part 17)
---
Subscribe to Science & Reason:
• http://www.youtube.com/Best0fScience
• http://www.youtube.com/SagansCosmos
• http://www.youtube.com/FFreeThinker
---
BEST OF CARL SAGAN'S "COSMOS":
1) 10 Years After: Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Reflect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTNfwfH0Jc
2) Lost Between Immensity And Eternity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIVsDg6U0LU
3) The Realm Of The Galaxies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1axoV6HhWfI
4) Our Galaxy, The Milky Way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOazBTHzRYA
5) Our Solar System:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqjob-UVeo
6) Eratosthenes And The Round Earth Model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en5UKtcNujI
7) The Library Of Alexandria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVQs4B2jAW0
8) A Short History Of The Universe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n2r0qOxJ6k
9) Artificial And Natural Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3uToVWZkWM
10) The Cosmic Year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFqbm_94nTM
11) Tree Of Life - 4 Billion Years Of Evolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0UECN4ndA
12) The Miracle Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOyojWeOYNA
13) DNA - The Common Basis Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmuvjSykf8
14) Abiogenesis The Origin Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yet1xkAv_HY
15) Astronomy vs Astrology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImaQS9NJ0nI
16) Pictures In The Sky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCAwc4bge4
17) Ancient Astronomy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-5dwJwau1Y
18) Triumph Of Modern Science Over Medieval Superstition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lfmRqT-B_c
19) The Mysterious Tonguska Event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irVof7adq4s
---
Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage", which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.
A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel "Contact", the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki's film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.
During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.
http://www.carlsagan.com
.

Johannes Kepler And The Triumph Of Modern Science Over Medieval Superstition - Best Of Carl Sagan's Cosmos (Part 18).
Subscribe to Science & Reason:
• http://www.youtube.com/SagansCosmos
• http://www.youtube.com/Best0fScience
• http://www.youtube.com/FFreeThinker
BEST OF CARL SAGAN'S "COSMOS":
1) 10 Years After: Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Reflect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTNfwfH0Jc
2) Lost Between Immensity And Eternity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIVsDg6U0LU
3) The Realm Of The Galaxies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1axoV6HhWfI
4) Our Galaxy, The Milky Way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOazBTHzRYA
5) Our Solar System:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqjob-UVeo
6) Eratosthenes And The Round Earth Model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en5UKtcNujI
7) The Library Of Alexandria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVQs4B2jAW0
8) A Short History Of The Universe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n2r0qOxJ6k
9) Artificial And Natural Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3uToVWZkWM
10) The Cosmic Year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFqbm_94nTM
11) Tree Of Life - 4 Billion Years Of Evolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0UECN4ndA
12) The Miracle Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOyojWeOYNA
13) DNA - The Common Basis Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmuvjSykf8
14) Abiogenesis The Origin Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yet1xkAv_HY
15) Astronomy vs Astrology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImaQS9NJ0nI
16) Pictures In The Sky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCAwc4bge4
17) Ancient Astronomy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-5dwJwau1Y
18) Triumph Of Modern Science Over Medieval Superstition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lfmRqT-B_c
19) The Mysterious Tonguska Event: coming soon
Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage", which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.
A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel "Contact", the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki's film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.
During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.
• http://www.carlsagan.com
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. He is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers based on his works "Astronomia nova", "Harmonices Mundi", and "Epitome of Copernican Astrononomy". They also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation.
During his career, Kepler was a mathematics teacher at a seminary school in Graz, Austria, an assistant to astronomer Tycho Brahe, the court mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II, a mathematics teacher in Linz, Austria, and an adviser to General Wallenstein. He also did fundamental work in the field of optics, invented an improved version of the refracting telescope (the Keplerian Telescope), and helped to legitimize the telescopic discoveries of his contemporary Galileo Galilei.
Kepler lived in an era when there was no clear distinction between astronomy and astrology, but there was a strong division between astronomy (a branch of mathematics within the liberal arts) and physics (a branch of natural philosophy).
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler
.

"Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe" (2008)
Part 1: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YxxbXgo7IVw
Part 2: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=c8ShC9VBQCs
Part 3: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=To1rQNk08jo
Part 4: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3gox8PpNOPY
Part 5: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=U8kmY6yvG4o
Part 6: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=puXIw_bEqmU
Part 7: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7zxBdm1bNGw
Part 8: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iejh5fgcvyc
Part 9: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hLSu3dCpYr8
Part 10: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MT5vR5Xm5eA
Runtime: 01:36:20
Stephen Hawking is the most famous scientist on the planet. In his post as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, he counts Sir Isaac Newton (1642--1727) amongst his predecessors. And he was born 300 years to the day after the avant-garde astronomer, Galileo Galilei (1564--1642).
Following a devastating diagnosis of motor neurone disease in 1963, Hawking was given two years to live. Yet 44 years later, he still hopes to solve the big problem of physics, that of unifying quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of relativity. Doing so will produce a set of laws that will explain everything in the universe, including how it all began - a breakthrough aptly dubbed the 'Theory of Everything'.
Hawking felt that he was on the brink of this breakthrough a long time ago. When he published his surprising best-seller 'A Brief History of Time' in 1988, he expressed a certainty that the Theory of Everything was imminent. However, twenty years later, it still eludes Hawking and the scientific community.
Frustratingly, Hawking's condition is worsening. His only way of communicating now is through one cheek muscle. Will he find the theory before it is too late?
This two-episode documentary from the UK's Channel 4 is both a portrait of Hawking and an attempt to explain his work to non-scientific types. It conveys the basics of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity in an easy-to-understand manner and does very well to acquaint viewers with Hawking's extraordinary life and character. A thoroughly enjoyable, inspiring and enlightening series!